This website has grown around the steps I have taken following my diagnosis with an aggressive calf sarcoma in 2013, and my actions to prevent the possible growth of secondaries in the lung.

My core belief is that taking control of your illness increases your chances of a longer life and recovery. I am fortunate that my best friend is a renowned specialist in the early detection of cancer, and has had breast cancer herself. She is supporting this site and giving us the benefit of the scientific research that underpins this view, as well as more general information that is useful to people living with cancer. See My doc for her updates on the latest research.

It seems to be common sense that what you put into your body is central to giving it a chance to regenerate by boosting the immune system. So a holistic approach to well-being seems to be a no-brainer, paying attention to exercise, be it yoga, swimming, Pilates, or simply walking (see My exercise), combined with watching what you eat (see My recipes).

Following the tenets of ancient philosophies I include  meditation, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine for a complete holistic approach, and to augment to my regime (see My well-being).

 My other central belief is that whatever we do should be quick, easy and natural. As someone who understands the exhaustion of having cancer – plus an added Vitamin B12 deficiency which reared its annoying head just after my radiotherapy, sapping me of all my remaining energy – the thought of complicated recipes and fitness regimes is pure anathema. So I keep it simple!

It is of paramount importance that all the food we eat should be delicious and health-giving. Thus after much reading around the subject (see My reading list), and on the advice of my Chinese doctors, I have decided to follow the approach of no dairy, no red meat, no sugar (apart from fruit), no processed food; stick to whole grains; and take only a VERY LITTLE alcohol – none at all would be too dull, and being happy is important too! My diet, as you will see, follows a TCM diagnosis of Cold Yin, as opposed Hot Yang (explained fully in My wellbeing). But as in everything I do, I believe in a little of what you fancy does you good, so will ‘sin’ every now and again, and enjoy a delicious piece of roast lamb, or a Vietnamese beef salad, and the occasional sliver of unpasteurised, grass-fed cheese. Good for the B12 as well!

In case you think I am a happy-clappy, cranky hippy, let me reassure you this is far from the case. I am a successful businesswoman (see My story) imbued with a fair degree of skepticism, accompanied by a large dollop of common sense.

Much of what I am doing is based on sound research: there is some evidence on the red meat and dairy issue (see My doc and My reading list), and this combines with my horror about the amount of red meat the world consumes and the deforestation of swathes of the Amazon to grow corn and soya to feed our habit. The same goes for palm oil, which is contained in so much of our processed food; living in Singapore we can smell the burnings of tropical rainforest to make way for the plantations, and see the effects on the people and the wild life, such as the orang-utans.

Finally, my nurturing nature and passion for cooking and good food, inherited from my Czech grandmother, together with my good fortune in living in the Far East with all its cultural and culinary influences, encourage me to share my recipe for healthy living with cancer, in the hope that it helps you as much as it is helping me.

at the Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan